Is it realistic to keep a chameleon as novice?

[kurgan]

As i mentioned in my holiday pics thread I fell in love with these guys in Madagascar.
Is it really realistic for me to be thiking about one with zip experience in any herps except my BP?

[Jeanne]

Do the research, figure out what it will cost to set up/maintain..and if you feel confident in your abilty to care for it, go for it! Just do your research.. you have to get the experience somewhere ya know...

[kavmon]

completely realistic! we have an ambilobe panther cham. i don't think it is extremely hard to care for at all. more misting and feeding and cleaning than snakes but not harder.



vaughn

[greenmonkey51]

When I reasearched them a bit, the feeding was the only thing that I found would be difficult. Im sure though if you had a roach colony or a reptile store in your town it wouldn't be bad.

[Shelby]

Just be sure to get a captive bred baby!

Panther and veiled chameleons are considered great beginner species.. and they are gorgeous!

[Freakie_frog]

I would say yea you have been keeping a b. So you know that different herps need different things.. I say just like above do the research get the set up and enjoy. I like the Veiled myself..

[fish21]

i have a few panthers around. they can be verry rewarding and they can be verry humbling. the trick to success is keeping them in a room that never gets below 80degs. thats right. even if you keep them in a climate controled enviroment. because the only cages that work for them are screen cages ther is aloways a draft, so by keeping the room at at least 80 keeps the draft temps ok. chamelions are verry similar to green tree pythons. both not for a biginner. if you do decide to get one i strongly recommend you have someone who is succesfully keeping them ( for more than 1 year)
come and help you get set up. i run a steem humidifier 24-7 and an automatic mister system. if you do not use a automatic mister you will have to spray down there cage about 5 times a day because chams only drink water off of leaves. TRUST ME they will not drink from a water dish. you will absolutly need to keep doing your reasearch before you buy. pm me any time with any questions you may have.

matt fisher

[snaker35]

I've had a veiled for about a year and half and they're great. Sometimes they can have little temp though A couple things you need to figure out is that you need to start them off in a smaller cage and then graduate them up to a really tall cage. They're arboreal so they like to climb up real high. When mine comes out of the cage he loves to sit on top of my drapes! 4-5 ft tall is pretty good, the cage doesn't need to be too wide or deep. Also I would stick a live plant in the cage to help with humidity and they will occasionally take a bit out of it, so make sure it isn't poisonous. I use a ficus. I have heard of some chams that use a water dish but I wouldn't. I use a drip system, which is basically a cup on top of the cage with a hole in the bottom. pour water in and it drips down. Also if you place it right the dripping also helps water the plant!!!

If you want any more tips on them plz ask

[kurgan]

The temp thing is a big worry and probably a deal breaker.
Our old and non centrally heated house drops well below 80 in the winter. I can keep Monty warm in his tank but an open chameleon enclosure would probably suffer. I guess it will have to wait untill we move on but that will be a few years.

Thats a gorgeous cham. in the pic.